I have had that thought enter my mind before but I haven't pursued it for a couple reasons. Well, one reason really-it would be extraordinarily time consuming to make!

The way the game engine works, there are 4 different versions of the standard dodgeball throw (each with a slew of effects tied to them and several triggers that detect these effects and react accordingly, as well as their own actors/models/sound effects). There's the standard throw, the masterball throw, the standard bounce, and the masterball bounce. The reason there are so many is because the ball has to behave differently after it bounces, and of course masterballs have an entirely different effect altogether.

In essence, there are about 40 effects tied to the standard dodgeball throw. Every ability that uses a straight-travelling dodgeball (rapid shot, megaball, fireball, etc.) also has to have 4 variations. Greatballs and Ultraballs, however, do not require such treatment because they simply change a single integer value (period count for the initial effect that determines how many dodgeballs to throw). New dodgeballs, with their own look and effects would require a huge time investment in order to integrate it into the existing engine.

For that reason, I've decided, for now, to introduce new dodgeball "types" in the form of abilities. The Megaball was orignally going to be a rare dodgeball that could periodically spawn, but upon seeing how much effort would be required to implemet it for all units to use, I decided to use it as a unique ability.

That being said, for the sake of variety I could create some special, periodicall-spawning dodgeballs and make them unusable with abilities, as that would be reasonable to implement. It's really the idea of these dodgeballs being able to be used by dodgeball-consuming abilities that is unreasonable.

Thanks for the suggestion! I know this answer was a little wordy and for that I apologize, but I wanted to make sure it's clear why it would take a bit of time before I think about adding this type of feature.

yeah its just a small idea, it would make sense to not be able to use your abilities on them as well. Thanks for reading. I'm really just trying to add to the brainstorm so we can get the best possible game we can out of your masterpiece!

PierceSc2 wrote:yeah its just a small idea, it would make sense to not be able to use your abilities on them as well. Thanks for reading. And yeah your insight into why it would be complicated helps a lot

I'm really just trying to add to the brainstorm so we can get the best possible game we can out of your masterpiece!